and with the meaning He intended—an establishment free of contact, settling, occupying a place, indwelling, or movement from place to place. The Throne does not bear Him; rather, the Throne and its bearers are sustained by His subtle power and held subject within His grasp. He is above the Throne and above everything, down to the furthest depths of the earth.

His being above does not bring Him any closer to the Throne or heaven. Rather, He is exalted in rank above the Throne just as He is exalted in rank above the earth. Yet He is near every existing thing, nearer to the servant than his jugular vein, and a witness over all things. His nearness does not resemble the nearness of bodies, just as His essence does not resemble the essence of bodies. He does not dwell within anything, nor does anything dwell within Him.” He went on to say:

“He is distinct from His creation in His attributes. Nothing other than Him is within His essence, nor is His essence within anything other than Him.”

I say:

The being above that he mentions concerns power and dominion—“superiority in power”—and means that He is superior to created beings. The “nearness” he mentions is knowledge, or knowledge and power.

Muslims agree that His knowledge, power, and dominion encompass everything. A number of scholars have interpreted His nearness in this way because they thought that the nearness mentioned in the verse was His nearness alone. They therefore explained it as knowledge, since they understood it to apply universally. They said: “He is near every existing thing in the sense of knowing it.” Yet there is no need for this, as explained above.

His words:

“And We are nearer to him than his jugular vein”

cannot mean knowledge alone. Someone who knows a thing better than another does is not said to be nearer to it than the other merely because of his knowledge of it, nor merely because of his power over it.